It looks like Darren Rowse has heard about the Technorati Faves Exchange and Link Train and decided to offer his opinion on the matter. It’s probably safe to say that Darren isn’t the biggest fan of this meme and has some strong opinions as to how “sad” this whole meme was. And now that one of the more prominent bloggers have basically come out against the whole idea, we are beginning to see a lot of bloggers coming out from the woodwork with their opinions on the matter as you can see the comments piling up on both DoshDosh and Darren’s site. Being that I was the originator of the Faves Exchange Link Train, I felt compelled to write something in response to the questions he asks in his post:
Does the Technorati Top 100 Most Favorited Blog List Drive Traffic?
After reading Darren’s own answer to this question, I felt that he has lost touch with how hard it is for an up and coming blogger to get any kind of traffic, especially when entering today’s highly competitive blogosphere. I’ll admit that it hasn’t brought the amount of traffic that I thought it would, but no matter what, it has provided an increase in traffic nonetheless that has definitely been more than a “blip on the radar.” The best attribute of any Link Train is that it gave my blog more of a chance to attract one more reader who will add me to their RSS feed, comment on my post and be part of my community. To use an analogy, a rich man might ignore a penny on street while a person struggling to get by will take the time to pick it up.
Does it Increase Profile?
Relatively, it has greatly increased my profile. I haven’t had any advertisers or reporters contact me either, but I have had numerous bloggers contact me, asking me questions about blogging, marketing and the web in general. I hope that this has more to do with these visitors reading other posts from my blog than anything else. For me, getting these new readers have been a great byproduct of the Link Train and Faves exchange.
Does it give Egos a Boost?
Of course cracking the Top 100 for anything is an ego boost. Not all of us can have the ego of a person making a six figure income from blogging, so we have to take any kind of boost we can get to build our own web egos. At the end of the day, all bloggers already have huge egos, since we have opinions we want others to hear and love it when they are heard. At the end of the day, I really think this added exposure for the Technorati Faves list will eventually even out the playing fields as the followers of “A-List” blogs will make it a point to help bring their favorite blogs back to where they were before.
Does Technorati Care?
Probably not, but Technorati should care if they want to grow their website. The faves exchange experiment shows how rudimentary Technorati’s system is and how necessary it is for them to upgrade their systems. Also, this would be a great opportunity for them to start to categorize blogs, so that these lists are not dominated by the most active - blogs that blog about blogging. A good example of how popular this could be and how Technorati should model a future system is by taking a look at the Bloggers Choice Awards, which currently has segmented some of the most popular blogs into their proper categories.
So what’s the point of Technorati Favorites and Why Do I promote it?
The point of Technorati faves was to just have another way for Technorati to rank blogs based on a direct voting system instead of backlinking. It also tried to do what RSS Readers currently do and that is to highlight recent posts from our favorite bloggers. Personally, I never even noticed the faves feature until Stephen Fung mentioned it for charity, which is probably why I only started out with 6 faves before this whole Faves Exchange started.
So what do I think about swapping Favorites to Climb the Top 100 Most Favorited Blogs List?
I don’t see any difference from exchanging links, asking your blogger friends to digg a story for you because you dugg one for them or even faving yourself in Technorati. So, if Darren wants to talk about exchanging faves as being “sad,” then he should get off his high horse and check himself because faving himself (as he has done) would be downright pathetic. Maybe he should take his own advice and the advice of Kevin from Quartz Mountain and make better use of his time. Don’t get me wrong, I faved myself too, but I just don’t like when people criticize others for something they’re doing themselves.
What do I think about the Top 100 Most Favorited Blogs List?
This was an experiment to see what being on the Top 100 List really meant for overall traffic to the site. I will continue to use this feature on Technorati and believe that it will continue to give me access and exposure to some sites that I probably will never have found for myself. For those who question the intergrity of this practice, I would just suggest that you first closely take a look at what you have been doing before overly criticizing the marketing practices of your peers.
StumbleUpon | Digg | Del.icio.us | Dzone | Newsvine | Spurl | Reddit | Yahoo! MyWeb
Popularity: 10% [?]
- Cracked Technorati Top 100
- Share the Power of Technorati Faves
- Technorati Faves Link Train Effect
- Agloco Update
- April 2007 - Blog Report
Good response Gary.
I have a lot of respect for Darren. He’s a great blogger and he seems like a real nice guy. He’s got a business to protect, and in that context his comments are perfectly valid.
But so are yours. You saw, you went, you kicked some butt. At the end of the day, who cares. It was cool to see the train rumble along and achieve what it did.
And if anything, it’s a little gold star for the power of social networking and a little black x for search engine traffic.
yea someone needs to pass darren rowse a stool because he needs to climb down from his high horse. just like everyone else, i believe darren does have a great model for successful blogging. and i think he brings up valid points about the technorati train, and he has every right to possess those views. however, where i think he steps up and proves to be a pompous ass is when he lashes back at his readers in his comments section, telling them what they should and shouldn’t write - indicating that participating in this one link train would compromise the integrity and quality of the author’s blog. i must take the side of john chow in this respect - with his post on how to respond to negative comments:
http://www.johnchow.com/how-to-handle-negative-comments-in-a-blog/
he has enough grace to dismiss his readers with a polite “thanks but no thanks.” great post, gare, as usual
[…] Responding to Technorati Faves Criticism […]
The true benefit of the train was the hundreds of backlinks it has generated for everyone involved. Surely Rowse can appreciate the importance of that. The favorites part, imo, is a bit of a side effect when you think about it.
A lot of pre-established guys make their niche out of criticizing newbies.
It’s a blend of self-centered arrogance along with a sense of threat.
That Darren guy disallowed John Chow from advertising on his site ever since John got so big, and that’s the politics of it.
I’d take it as a compliment that he criticized you to begin with - that in its own will drive more traffic for you.
Gary,
I’m proud to be one of your loyal readers, seeing that you can stand behind your “product”.
One note though, Darren has made sure his article is in response to all the questions he’s getting about the train. So he can always defend himself in case people say that he “decided to offer his opinion on the matter”. “This is in response to reader questions” he could reply.
@Jeff
This is common in the global business world. Mercedes will never allow Toyota ads on their sites and Microsoft won’t allow Ubuntu or OpenOffice.org ads on their site.
[…] another piece on the subject. In it, he links to some more discussions: My Real Favorite Blogs Responding to Technorati Faves Criticism who said, “I never even noticed the faves feature until Stephen Fung mentioned it for […]
who knows, maybe you’ll even get a hot date due to meeting a new blog friend…stranger things have happened.
Its funny, I “know” Darren from another blog he does, I didn’t even realize he was the same guy you were talking about till now.
I think your idea was great.
[…] Lee also related about his own experience in running the Technorati Train. Not quite so in-depth, but for me the most significant part was the conclusion:- I will continue […]
[…] Responding to Technorati Faves Criticism […]
I disagree with youranswer to the question: “So what’s the point of Technorati Favorites and Why Do I promote it?” If there were no ads on this site, I might agree with your answer, but in my opinion you promoted the Technorati Fave Train to generate traffic for your site and ultimately make money off your ads. I’m not saying ads are bad — I have some on my site — but the content should drive traffic, not links that you synthesize!
Gaming Technorati, asking to return a Digg favour or a StumbleUpon or exchange a link - it’s all garbage and creates a network of weak blogs that climb the various ranking systems and search engines because of their various linkbacks.
Good content should be the only thing that generates a link from someone. Every other way is dishonest and a disservice to all bloggers.
well what can I say that hasn’t already been said? Im with you Mr. Gary Lee! You made some great points! Im pretty sure that if Mr. Darren got in to the game late like us then he’d be doing the same thing. Anyway I dont think there is anything wrong with a group of strangers getting together to help support each other. Like the old saying “united we stand, divided we fall…” Mr. Darren is going to say whatever he wants because he has the most to lose so we gotta keep on keepin on!
Hey Gary,
It’s very impressive what you’ve been able to accomplish via the link train, in fact that is how i found your blog. Hope this inspires you to keep blogging. Good luck…
[…] Responding to Technorati Faves Criticism - Gary Lee I will continue to use this feature on Technorati and believe that it will continue to give me access and exposure to some sites that I probably will never have found for myself. […]
Hi, Just wanted to let to know that I faved you at Technorati for The Technorati Train Meme. You can check out my blog at http://mikesmoneyrants.blogspot.com trying to keep the train alive.
I’m not an internet marketer so the rankings of whatever doesn’t bother me. I get on the Fave Train for an ego boosting, not that I need it. hahaha….
But I am meeting more people who are internet marketers and getting to know how you guys work. I own several businesses and it really puzzles me as to how people make a living just using internet connection.
The Fave Train brought me Gary Lee. hehe….
well, it did get you noticed by darren, gary? That’s enough publicity in itself.
It looks like he wrote the post to create some attention for himself, and evil linkbacks.
[…] Gary Lee - He’s the guy who started the Technorati Faves Train and consequently helped me get on the top 100 most favorited list on Technorati. He works in LA California, and has great insight on marketing on the web and outside the web as well as on electronics. It’s one of those small blogs (so far small) owned by smart guys who share great stuff. A diamond in the rough! […]
[…] falling, and 99.9% of their readers will never even notice (unless they choose to blog about it). Responding to Technorati Faves Criticism – Gary Lee I will continue to use this feature on Technorati and believe that it will […]